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Wintertide
editing would not be appreciated Wintertide Author's Note Consisting of eight stories, Wintertide explores the perception of the season, winter, and the variations of the myth that surrounds it. You may notice that there is practically no description, or names for the dragons. Chose the names. Change the shades. This is meant so every one of the readers will perceive the stories in different ways, in varying contexts. Choose the timeline, how the world is for each. Make the forests brighter, imagine the snow and the wind as you please. Enjoy the stories, and let imagination fill in where the words fall short. And let us begin. i''' "Tell me the story again." The dragonet asked, tugging on her mothers talons. The elder SkyWing smiled gently, settling again on the rocky ledge. She patted her daughter, "Which one? I must've told you at least ten of them, already." She thought for a moment, fiddling with her mother's talons, "Hmm, I'd like... Ooo! The one about the seasons." Her mother started laying out the blanket, wrapping the dragonet snugly. Picking up the bundle of blankets, she started outside, whispering in her daughter's ear, "Once, long ago..." She stepped outside into the chill, settling on the cold stone outside as the beginnings of a snowstorm floated down around them. "There were four dragons, each gifted with separate powers. The SkyWing, who could turn the world fertile with a wave of his talons, yet cause the destruction of his own creations. The RainWing, who loved and gifted life to all, with joy that infected the world. The SandWing, bringing heat and brightness, with brought the rain but could spread drought as fast. And lastly, the IceWing, who kept the world under a smoldering blanket of cold." "She was the bad one." "Yes. The one who convinced the SkyWing to destroy his world, the bursts of cover and heavy fruit, to turn and tear the leaves off the tree, yellowing the grass to prepare for her takeover. She forced the RainWing to rebuild from the ashes, to call the plants up out of their constant fear." The dragonet opened her mouth, to speak, but her mother silenced her, then continued with the tale. "The SandWing could see this wanton destruction happening, squeezing away his rule as the IceWing spent months, years, with the world in her icy grip, chilled by the tearing wind and freezing ice. He gathered the other two, and together they fought, bringing the warmth, trying to free our world from the deathly winter." "And this time they succeeded." "Almost. The IceWing was pushed back, her time as the queen of the world turned into a mere three moons. But they couldn't push farther, no effort could eliminate the last of the cold. And so they set up around her, building a cycle so her viciousness could only last for a quarter of the year." The little dragonet caught a snowflake on her claw, watching the fragile sculpture melt into not much more than a drop, "Winter is so pretty though." "All in the name of deception." "Is the story true?" "It's a legend. We're not sure. The business of the gods is not our own." The dragonet squirmed in her bundle as her mother brought her back into the warmth of the cave. "Mommy?" "Hmm?" "Do they have any names? You keep on calling them the IceWing, the RainWing, the SandWing, the SkyWing." "I don't know. Maybe you can name them, and make our next story a little more you." "Really?" "Yes, my dear. This could have been true, once, but when told enough times, all the details get changed, until everything is different. You could take part in this change, if you want. By naming the dragons." "I'm going to name them Fall, Summer, Spring, and Winter." "It's not very creative, is it?" "So?" Her laughter echoed around the cave as she tucked her daughter in. '''ii The RainWing bounced on the leaves, trying to catch the wind with her newborn wings. She suddenly caught an updraft, spiraling higher, laughing as she played with the air and the wind, diving and falling, turning in the air. "Woah!" She was suddenly in strong talons, still laughing hysterically as her father glared at her, "You could have given me a heart attack, diving like that-" He started. She smiled anyway. "Did you see me? I went so high! Now they can't say anything- I could fly before any of them! Wasn't it great!" He sighed, returning her smile weakly. "Yes, yes, I did. Just be more careful next time, alright?" He pulled her into a hug." "Mfmm." She struggled, until her head was no long buried in his talons, "Yep!" Then her train of thought jumped a couple of rails over. "Daddy? Why did the MudWings who visited talk about seasons? Winter and summer and spring and cold and warm, while over here there's only wet season and very wet season?" "That's a very advanced question." He noted. "So what's the answer?" She pressed, staring up at him. "Hmm… I'll try to explain it. The Mud Kingdom and the Rainforest has different weather. Up there, they have different seasons than we do here." "Do they have stories too? Like the one about how the water maiden controls the floods from the sky?" He shrugged, still snuggling her, "I'm not sure. I've never heard any, even if they do exist." She sighed. "I wish I could hear some, so I can get ready for being a traveler and exploring the entire continent. It'd be so awesome." "Wait, there was one I heard before, I think. The seasons are separate entities for them, not just the one we have. I remember thinking it was awfully complicated." "Can you tell me?" "No… it was when I was a dragonet. Don't remember much. There was a RainWing in there though, along with other tribes... It's irrelevant. Want to hear our story of the seasons?" "Again?" "Why not?" "What's i-re-la-vent mean?" "Not relevant." "Re-la-vent?" He sighed in exasperation. "Not really related to our life in any way. But, do you want to hear our story again?" "Why?" "I already told you." The dragonet squirmed out of his grasp, dancing backward. "Nah, I'd rather play tag. You won't catch me this time! At least not before suntime." Her father stood up, his scales flaring yellow slightly as he grinned, "In your dreams, dear." iii Nightgazing was becoming a pain. He tried to get into a more comfortable position with his eye still on the telescope. He was deeply annoyed, and cold. Only his sister would come up with such a hideously crazy plan. They were both outside, half buried in snow, with more falling on the eyepiece and her scales and freezing his talons off. Both telescopes were trained on the sky. Why? Because she was convinced someone was up there, controlling the snow. "You see anything?" She asked. "No." He groaned in return. "Come'on, cheer up. We might be onto something." He rolled his eyes, "With what evidence? This is literally your idea, coming from nowhere." "Actually." She said, taking her eyes from the telescope for a moment. "I did. I did a lot of research, okay? Otherwise I wouldn't be forcing you to suffer." "What research? A children story book?" "No... a book analyzing children's stories." He rolled his eyes again. "Anyway," She continued, "They believe there's always truth in these old legends. So I'm just looking for an anomaly. Something to look into." "And you're dragging me into your grand plan." "You don't need glasses." He groaned. "Okay. We've been on this random hill somewhere up here, away from the rainforest, for weeks. I'm pretty sure I have frostbite, we both haven't seen anything, yet we're still here. Glasses doesn't make a difference. We haven't seen anything. We should just go home." "No." He sighed, returning his eye to the telescope. She did too, and gasped a moment later. "Do you see that?" He did. A small shimmering mass of falling snow, shaping together into the shape of a dragon, soaring through the snowflakes for a few precious seconds before splitting apart once more. "It... it could just be an optical illusion... maybe... a mirage... I don't" He stuttered. She turned on him, her eyes glinting with intensity, "We both saw that! We can do this- with this proof - we could be famous! Can you believe this!" He was at a lost for words. For about five seconds. "No. We have no proof, besides this one sighting. It's literally impossible to convince anyone, and who the heck would that dragon be anyway?" She shrugged, "We have books. We can do this sort of research. It'll be fine." "Who was that dragon then?" He shouted. She stepped back, surprised by his rage, but still answered, "The goddess of winter." She clearly was suppressing the urge to add, "Duh." "There are no gods." He protested, "We figured that out back when our tribe lived on a peninsula!" "Well, time to prove our ancestors wrong." iv The SeaWing flopped audibly onto the sands, flinging out her wings to greet the warmth of the sunlight. A lonely palm tree waved its fronds, dappling the light that fell upon the dragon's cyan scales. "It's weird, y'know, a SeaWing not loving the sea." She glanced up, already knowing who it was. "I can like what I want. It's none of your business." She sat up, looking out across the ocean. Her sister shrugged, following her gaze, "Still. You're supposed to love the ocean." "Well, I don't. It's too cold." "Even in sunlight." "Yes." "Do you ever wonder…" "What?" "What would happen if the ocean froze over?" She abruptly turned, staring at her sister. "That's... crazy. Silly. There's no way that will ever happen." The other SeaWing ignored the look. "But, wouldn't it be interesting. There's lakes in the continent, and you can slide on the ice." "You want to turn the ocean into an ice rink?" "No, I just wonder what it would be like. Interesting, you know. Maybe a couple polar bears would visit." She shrugged, "It's just cool to think about." "But it could be a reality, couldn't it? We have animi in the royal family- they could- oh, you're gonna make me have nightmares." "Hmm... well I'm pretty sure none of our animi would do that. Or any others, for the matter. They'd have nothing to gain. But..." "What?" "What about the goddess of winter? This is just hypothetical. I know she's just a made up story, but what if she came here and the seasons worked here?" "This is a tropical place." "Exactly. It'd be so interesting. The ocean freezing, blossoms on the islands..." "It's winter right now, right?" "Yeah, I think." "Then just go to a giant lake somewhere in the mountains or something and fulfill your wish there." "Good point." She glanced at her sister, noting the small dreamy smile on her lips, "So are you going?" "Maybe someday." v''' The pages were slightly yellowed, somewhat crinkly, the words faded. The cover was weathered, the red cover turned dingy with sand and time. The dragonet picked it up, turning the thick book over in her claws, "What's this?" "A storybook. My parents read it to me, when I was a dragonet." "Woah... can you read it to me then?" the dragonet asked, climbing up on to the bed. She let the book fall open, "This story please?" Her mother settled next to her, taking the book in her own talons, "Of course." Her voice lowered, her eyes scanning the page, and she started. "Once upon a time, there was a dragon, created from, and surrounded by, the void?" "What's a void?" "A nothingness. He saw the world was missing existence, and created..." "Us?" "Us. Dragons, living on this beautiful planets. But he wanted more to rule with him, and created the sun, the moon, water, everything was controlled by a being. Even the intangible, one who changed and toyed with emotions, and four that controlled the seasons. "And one was a SandWing-" "Like me!" "Yes, he was the god of summer, the strong warmth and beauty. But it only existed three months a year. Spring and autumn, controlled by a RainWing and a SkyWing, where both warm, and wonderful. And finally there was winter, an IceWing. The cold, the evil, the terrible death. No one liked the IceWing." "But they should! She was probably a good dragoness inside." "No. She deserved it. She was a terrible dragoness, but the Creator kept her, to keep the world in a cycle of kindness and death. The cycle brought change, dragons adopted to the snow of winter, and others managed to find places where the cold couldn't reach." "Like the desert." "Yes, the desert. Of course, the winter goddess hated how she was limited, and fought to gain more, she tricked everyone, and landed our world in an age of ice, with only her in control." "Okay, she sounds terrible now." "Shush. But the other gods teamed up, all of them. And together, they showed her exactly who was in charge, and banished her to three months of existence." "But then why didn't they get rid of her?" "They couldn't do that dear. Once a god, always a god. She couldn't be killed, only pushed as far as they could. And three months was the best they could do. And even with the evil in their world, Pyrrhia lived on. And lived happily ever after." She closed the book. "I don't like the story." "Then make up your own. You can have your own opinions, we're not all meant to agree." "I'll make the winter dragoness my hero." "Do what you like, I don't think I'll agree with you on that one though." She laughed. "I'm gonna write it anyway." "Not now, it's time to sleep." She smiled, tucked the dragonet under the blankets, and put away the book. She blew out the candle, gave her daughter a small kiss, smiled, and walked away. '''vi It was one of those really, really cold days without a single cloud in the sky. Most of his sibs where still in the mud, conserving all their energy while occasionally sending out a dragon or two to hunt or whatever they needed. For example, him. The wind blasted him forcefully, pushing him back as he stumbled through the forest, his eyes watering and throat aching from the cold. All the animals were probably underground, cowering in their dens and whatnot. He sighed. As far as his very limited knowledge went, no animal would be out here today. But he had to come back with something. He shouldn't go back empty handed, else the guilt would kill him. *** When he came back to the pool of mud, sinking into the warm stickiness, he dropped a couple of squirrels, a bird, and a fox on the bank. Not much, but enough. He hoped. "Come on, food's here." The bigwings surfaced first, her head lifting out of the goop to regard the pitiful pile, "You did well, for this time of year." She noted, "Warning, though, some of us are a little impatient, as you might know." As if on cue, a small head popped up out of the mud and opened his mouth, "Why did it take you so long? We were waiting for hours and hours and probably days and I had to go up into the cold to breath at least a hundred thousand times!" He noticed the pile, "And it's barely anything! This is not worth waiting for!" The bigwings sighed, giving him an apologetic look as he sank into the mud. She gathered up the little dragon, just as more dragons appeared out of the pool. "You all go ahead and eat. I'm just going to tell this little one about some things. Do save some for us." As her sibs fell upon the meal, she rocked the squirmy dragonet, "Come on, now. You can't be this rude to your own sibs all the time. We have to work together, everyone has to. The IceWings soldiers, the SeaWing scouts, the RainWings guarding the nursery..." Her only response was a defiant look. "Even the mythical dragons." She continued, her eyes gaining a faraway look. "They, even though they didn't much like each other, still found ways to continue helping the others turn this world into such a beautiful place." "Example." He demanded, still squirming in her grasp. "The seasons. Of course there were rifts between them, with personalities as different as well... the seasons. But they still helped each other, made a cycle. Now it's winter. But before, the SkyWing of autumn called the leaves down and chilled to world to prepare for her. And after this, this goddess will melt the snow, helping the one controlling spring to call the plants up." She paused, glancing down at him. "So you have to be kind to your sibs, even if there is a little bit of dislike between all of you, all right?" He stared up at her. "I guess." She sighed. "You're my brother. We have to work together well, otherwise there will be problems. I don't want to have this talk again." She gave him a cold look, but released him, watching him scamper over to the other dragons, feasting on what counted as almost nothing. But at least, they were all happy. vii It was cold, like always, in the courtyard. Surrounded by the tall, translucent spires of the Ice Palace, the small, square opening to the sky was often shadowed. Not today. The sun shined down from straight above, illuminating the IceWing on the stage, facing the crowd ankle deep in snow. The speaker paced on the clear pedestal of ice, his tail lashing as he spoke. "Winter has left this world. It hasn't snowed past our kingdom for a moon. Winter has gone, but we have not." The audience mumbled among themselves. She stood on the fringe, eyes still focused on the speaker. They were skeptical of what he had to say, she knew. Yet, they were interested. The queen didn't grant this space to everyone, or invite so many IceWings on a daily basis. "The goddess of winter was an IceWing." He continued, over the whispers, "Just like us. Though the others in their cruelty has limited her to three moons of the year, we can still celebrate her existence, her cold, chilled strength. The continent calls her evil, but she is one of us. Not one to be hated, but to be celebrated as the god of the IceWings!" More skeptic mutterings. The two dragons nearest to her carried out a swift conversation about how the speaker mustn't be right in the head. "This goddess is kind to us, would tilt the world in our favor. In this corner of the world, cold never relents. We allow her to reside here, and in return she protects us. This goddess is not evil. She will help us once again to become as grand as we were before, and take down those to dare stand in our way! The world could be plunged into winter, in our control." This was a bit grandiose and brutal. She noted, and quickly changes direction, nothing really seemed to connect. And yet, he continued to talk, his voice carrying and silencing the audience. "Those who wish to join me, come with me now! We can show the world once more the grandeur of the IceWings!" A small crowd of dragons pushed to the front, embracing the seed of a new cult of religion. And trailing at the back, was her. An IceWing meant to take down these exact societies, the ones that could bring doom upon them all. She would join, and spy on the group, until subtle changes destroyed them. But a new idea had appeared in her mind, a wish to not do exactly as she was told. Perhaps they really could turn this continent into a field of snow and ice. And she'd be happy to try. viii One day, in a small town tucked among the mountains, and IceWing appeared in the town square. A cloak tucked around her bony shoulders, she slept there, for the entire day. Only until every last dragon had snuffed the candle and drifted off, did she stir. She rose, moving towards the sign at the center, inscribed with the words, All is welcome here. She touched it, and a thin layer of white appeared, a small speck of frost. She thought a moment, and started again, in thin loopy letters. Welcome the last breath of Windertide Before the world truly turns to spring. And clouds formed over the resting town, as she continued staring at the sign, not shifting her weight at all. A single, delicate snowflake landed on the cobblestone, disappearing in an instant. Then more followed, drifting downwards in a lazy breeze, building layer upon layer. Somewhere, distant, a wall of glass shatters, turned into a heap of glittering shards, the sound ringing slightly in the air. She moved, shifting as she sensed a new presence. Turned and smiled at you. The next morning, the news spread faster than wildfires. Two feet of snow, only in a single town. In the middle of spring. Category:Content (Cloud the IceWing) Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Completed) Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)